{"id":80246,"date":"2023-10-22T01:06:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T01:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/?p=80246"},"modified":"2023-10-22T01:06:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T01:06:20","slug":"im-43-and-my-man-is-21-hes-mates-with-my-son-and-we-celebrated-their-birthdays-together-at-soft-play-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/beauty-and-fashion\/im-43-and-my-man-is-21-hes-mates-with-my-son-and-we-celebrated-their-birthdays-together-at-soft-play-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"I'm 43 and my man is 21 – he's mates with my son and we celebrated their birthdays together at soft play | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"
FLYING down the slide into the ball pond, I tried to control my giggles. <\/strong><\/p>\n Determined not to lose the game of hide and seek, I sank lower into the brightly coloured balls, making sure I wasn\u2019t spotted by the birthday boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n But this wasn\u2019t a kids\u2019 party \u2013 there were cocktails rather than juice, and the sun had set hours before we headed to the adult soft play to celebrate two incredible men in my life \u2013 my eldest son and my amazing boyfriend, who\u2019d both turned 21.<\/p>\n I married my first husband in 2003, when I was 23. <\/p>\n He was my childhood sweetheart and we\u2019d met when we were both 15. We divorced after six years, by which point I was a mum to three boys, now 21, 19 and 18.<\/p>\n It was only when I started dating again at the age of 30 that I admitted to myself what I\u2019d suspected for ages \u2013 I wasn\u2019t attracted to guys my own age or older.\u00a0<\/p>\n My friends had all gone for older men, won over by their maturity and money. But when guys chatted me up, I just saw boring men who were already losing their hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, in 2010, a guy liked my picture on Facebook. At 24, he was six years younger than me, and I was instantly drawn to his up-for-it attitude and energy. <\/p>\n We went on to have two sons together, now 14 and 13, before marrying in February 2013. Our daughter, now nine, was born in July 2014, but by the following year we had divorced.\u00a0<\/p>\n The breakdown of our marriage wasn\u2019t caused by our age gap, and it didn\u2019t put me off younger men. I loved the energy they had \u2013 they always seemed so effervescent and had an adventurous spirit I found very desirable.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0So I carried on dating younger men, and in July 2022 I saw that a gorgeous young guy called Byron had swiped right for me on Tinder.<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t listed his age, but that didn\u2019t matter. He knew mine, because I had it showing publicly \u2013 I celebrated it and wasn\u2019t ashamed of being 42. <\/p>\n In fact, I\u2019d learned that for lots of young men, it was a reason why they were attracted to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n Byron was a dad to a one-year-old daughter, he had his own place and worked hard as a plumber, so I knew he was responsible. But he also had such incredible, youthful energy. <\/p>\n Three weeks after first making contact, we had Sunday lunch with his daughter at his house, and he was just as gorgeous in real life. <\/p>\n When we said goodbye with a wave, I didn\u2019t know if he liked me, and our second date at a street-food festival with both of our daughters ended with an unbelievably awkward hug.\u00a0<\/p>\n On our third date, this time on the beach without any children, his phone pinged with a message from his mum asking how it was going.<\/p>\n It turned out he\u2019d told her everything about me! That\u2019s when I asked how old he was. <\/p>\n Hearing he was 20, I felt a wave of panic. He was the same age as my eldest son \u2013 they even had their birthdays during the same week.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the next week, I couldn\u2019t help questioning if the age gap was too big. <\/p>\n But Byron was so handsome, kind and fun, what did it matter if there were 22 years between us? When I told him I wanted us to be together, he was thrilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n My sons were amazing from the start. I didn\u2019t have any nerves about them meeting Byron, even once we realised he\u2019d been at college with my son. Thankfully, they got on brilliantly, though my mum wasn\u2019t so easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n A month into our relationship, I went on a girls\u2019 trip and Byron stayed at my house. <\/p>\n Mum, who knew nothing about him, came to drop something off and found him asleep in my bed. <\/p>\n The poor guy woke up to her asking who he was! <\/p>\n She wasn\u2019t happy and couldn\u2019t understand why I kept going for younger men. But he won her over and soon she was telling me what a lovely guy he was.<\/p>\n I was nervous about meeting his mum in October 2022, especially as we\u2019re the same age. <\/p>\n I wanted her to see the real me and to understand I only wanted good things for her son. I was so relieved that she liked me.<\/p>\n Since then we\u2019ve been having a blast. When you\u2019re with a younger guy, you don\u2019t have to be \u201csensible\u201d just because that\u2019s how society expects a 40-something mother to behave. <\/p>\n We drew up a bucket list of adventures and immediately started ticking them off.\u00a0<\/p>\n We ran a 10k race together, climbed a mountain, went clubbing in Ibiza and celebrated our one-year anniversary in Portugal. I don\u2019t think about our ages \u2013 we are just two people in love with life and each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n If strangers have a problem with the age gap, we don\u2019t care. We\u2019ve laughed it off when people thought Byron was my son or assumed that I\u2019m his daughter\u2019s grandma.\u00a0<\/p>\n His energy and enthusiasm are endless \u2013 in and out of the bedroom \u2013 and that gives me a boost. I do have moments when I think I look old, but Byron constantly tells me how beautiful I am. <\/p>\n When I worry younger women could be sliding into his DMs, he looks baffled, saying no one is as sexy.\u00a0<\/p>\n We moved in together in May, and we\u2019ve talked about having children, but are happy with the wonderful kids we have. <\/p>\n He constantly asks me to marry him, though having walked down the aisle before, I\u2019m in no hurry. Things are amazing just as they are. <\/p>\n Like Emma Wills says, a young man keeps you young. When it comes to love, age is just a number.<\/p>\n BYRON SAYS:<\/strong> \u201cThe second we matched on Tinder, I dropped my work tools in excitement. I couldn\u2019t believe this stunning woman had swiped right for me. I\u2019d never been with an older woman, but when we started talking, our connection was amazing. <\/p>\n "Being a dad at 19 made me more mature, and Trish was so youthful, so it was like we were meeting in the middle. I know people comment when they see us, but I don\u2019t care. <\/p>\n "Trish is the most incredible, sexy woman. She\u2019s broadened my horizons and makes me happy. I\u2019m just so lucky to have her in my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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